Things to Come
by EldritchSandwich
Summary: Change of Heart Series 16. The first episode of the interim Series 1.5, which reconciles the Change of Heart universe with the changes made in Season 2. Aelita moves to Earth, everyone gets a vehicle, and William rears his head…


Sissi let out a grunt as she dropped a box full of CDs on her new bed. Aelita had finished sliding her few books into the shelf and was now peering over her shoulder. Sissi slid out a CD by the Silk Conspiracy and handed it over her shoulder. "Here, I think you might like these guys. Consider it a housewarming gift."

Aelita shrugged and placed the CD on the desk, sliding a box of Sissi's clothes over toward the closet. "You know, technically, you're the one moving in. Shouldn't you be getting the gifts?"

Sissi stopped unpacking and looked back, playfulness in her eyes. "You know, you're right. Give me back my CD!"

Aelita giggled and held the case behind her, the taller girl shrieking and making wild grabs at it. Aelita spun around the room to land, bouncing, on her bed. Sissi smiled, shook her head and turned back to her boxes. "You know, we really should have done this in the first place," Aelita commented.

Sissi nodded. "Yeah, it seems like such a natural." She glanced at the other girl out of the corner of her eye. "Unless, of course, you'd rather move in with Jeremie…" Aelita's cheeks turned beet red. Sissi started to laugh, then stopped when the Silk Conspiracy CD hit her in the back. "Ow!"

She whipped around to Aelita, who was smiling innocently. "It slipped."

Sissi rolled her eyes. "We still need to pick out a color scheme for the room, you know. I was thinking, maybe, oh, I don't know…pink."

Aelita chuckled and looked down at her new clothes—she still wasn't quite used to the feeling of the fabric against her skin. "Anything as long as it's not blue. I don't want to feel like I'm inside a Tower any more, thank you."

Sissi grinned and set her alarm clock down on the end table. "Hey, no worries. You're a genuine child of Earth now."

Ulrich's wrist impacted Odd's, pushing the skinnier boy backward. Ulrich swung his other hand around to Odd's shoulder, grabbing the arm and pulling down. Odd landed with a groan and shook off Ulrich's hand. "Dude, come on, go easy on me."

Ulrich shook his head and offered his hand. "If I go easy on you, you won't learn anything." Odd took his hand and the brunette boy hoisted him up. "Yumi and I both know martial arts. Sissi's even taken some pencak silat classes. If Xana possesses anyone else, you need to learn to fight a little better in the real world."

Odd rubbed his neck, still sore from the dozen or so times he'd fallen in the last five minutes. "What about Jeremie? He's even worse than I am! Why don't you beat him up for a while?"

"Because I'm a pitiful egghead, Odd, I'm not supposed to fight. I'm supposed to be protected from the scary monsters." Jeremie didn't even look up, just kept typing as he spoke.

Ulrich nodded. "Exactly. And you're not going to do any good protecting Jeremie _or_ Aelita unless you get some muscle tone on that scrawny body of yours."

Odd's nose wrinkled. "Scrawny? I'm not scrawny, I'm svelte! There's a difference!" Odd's hand struck out, Ulrich raising his arm to parry it. Odd grunted and continued lashing out, Ulrich losing ground toward the park.

Ulrich grinned. "See, now that's more like it!"

Yumi couldn't see them yet, but she could hear the sounds from across the courtyard. It sounded like Ulrich was winning. She didn't bother to hurry—they'd be fooling around for a while.

Suddenly, she was aware of a presence beside her, locking his steps with hers. "Hey, Yumi, how's it going?"

She sighed. This guy just couldn't take a hint. "Fine. You?"

William shrugged. "Oh, you know. A little distracted, but that's normal." Yumi rolled her eyes. "Listen, Yumi, I was thinking maybe we could get together sometime and study, you know? Maybe tomorrow afternoon?"

"Look, William, I've told you time and time again, I'm going out with Ulrich."

William grabbed her arm—not forcefully, but hard enough to make her stop and turn to him. "Come on, Yumi. He's just a kid, and you know it."

Yumi jerked her arm out of his grip. "Goodbye, William."

He stood, watching her as she walked off toward the band of losers she always seemed to hang out with. He just didn't get it. What did Ulrich Stern have that he didn't? "Goodbye."

…

Ulrich had just managed to flip Odd onto his back again when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Almost without thinking, he spun around, leg extended in a windmill kick. Yumi ducked under the swing and smiled as she clipped Ulrich's other leg and he teetered back to land beside Odd. Ulrich groaned and turned to Odd as Yumi helped both of them up. "See that? Girl's got muscle tone."

Yumi shrugged. "No, I just know all your weak spots."

Ulrich grinned. "I don't have any weak spots." Yumi leaned forward and drew her lips across his. He cleared his throat. "All right, I have one weak spot…"

Odd dropped onto the bench beside Jeremie. "I hope you're not suggesting I fight Xana like that."

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "So, where are Sissi and Aelita? We've got a date to keep."

Jeremie grunted triumphantly and shut the laptop. "They'll be down any time. Sissi still has to unpack."

"Finished." Sissi looked around at the knicknacks lining her side of the room.

"I wish I had some things to put on my wall. It looks a little silly." Sissi glanced over at Aelita's wall as they headed for the door. She was right—compared to hers, Aelita's half of the room was positively barren.

"Well, that's just becuase you haven't learned the fine art of shopping yet. We should go to the mall this weekend."

As Sissi turned the corner, she met Brandy head on. The blonde looked like she was in a bad mood. But then, on her it was hard to tell. "Watch where you're…oh, never mind, I thought you were someone worth talking to."

"Well, that just proves how smart we are, Brandy. I'd never make that mistake about you."

Aelita shrunk back toward the corner as Sissi traded verbal blows with the taller girl. She spent half her time running from laser-spitting monsters, but she still wasn't used to this kind of conflict. When she was almost back around the corner, Brandy's eyes fell on her. "What's the matter, Stones, too much for you?"

Sissi shook her head. "Just leave her alone, all right, Brandy?"

"Well, I just want to make our new arrival feel at home. After all, it must be very intimidating leaving…where was it you said you were from?"

Aelita's eyes flitted down to the ground. "Canada."

Brandy leaned in, smirking. "You know I seem to remember that at some point it was Holland. I wonder what would make me think such a thing?"

Sissi glanced at Aelita and shrugged. Aelita straightened. "I am from Holland. Holland happens to be a small town in southern Manitoba."

Brandy smiled and pulled herself back. "Of course it is." Brandy spun on her heel but, before vanishing around the corner, turned to face Sissi. "One of these days, honey, I'm going to find out what it is you freaks are hiding. And when I do, not even your father's going to be able to bail you out. I'm going to make everyone see what's become of the great Elisabeth Delmas."

"Transfer—Ulrich. Transfer—Yumi. Transfer—Odd."

Sissi stood with Aelita at the end of the scanner room, arms crossed. She'd been too quiet since they'd gone down to meet the others. Aelita couldn't understand. It obviously had something to do with Brandy, but Aelita was afraid to ask.

"Scanner—Ulrich. Scanner—Yumi. Scanner—Odd. Virtualization."

After a few seconds, the scanners hissed open, empty, and Aelita and Sissi took their places. Before the scanner door closed, Aelita leaned out and looked at the other girl. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Sissi didn't look at her. Aelita shook her head as the chamber closed and the scanning ring began to move. She thought they were friends now.

Ulrich turned as the girls materialized, and nodded. "Okay, Jeremie, we're all here. You can enter the code."

Jeremie nodded.

S-C-I-P-I-O.

Ulrich looked up at the transport sphere as it descended. He braced himself for the flash of light and the twinge of nausea that accompanied their excursions to Sector 5. When the light faded to the blue of the antechamber, he blinked and shook his head—he still wasn't used to that. Odd tapped his arm; the wall was opening.

"All right, you have three minutes to find the key. Don't try anything fancy."

Odd grinned as they ran through the tunnel that was forming just steps ahead of them. "What, you mean us?"

The group skidded to a stop as they entered the first massive chamber, white blocks sticking haphazardly through the surface. "There!" The others followed Yumi's finger.

The key was on the ceiling. That wasn't good. "Jeremie, can you materialize our vehicles?"

"Not yet. I don't have enough memory."

Before Ulrich could respond, he felt the tingle of the creeper's laser hitting his thigh. "Cover, now!" From where he was crouched down, Ulrich could see Yumi, Sissi, and the ring of creepers that had begun to form around the room. "Jeremie, how are those vehicles coming?"

"Don't rush me! I'm having trouble with the input codes."

Yumi glanced around at the increasing number of monsters—the timer was running down. "Ulrich, I can use my telekinesis to float myself up there."

Ulrich winced as a chunk of his cover was blown away. "No way, it's too risky. We need you for defense out on the platform!"

"But we're running out of time!"

"We wait for Jeremie!"

Yumi grunted and looked up at the ring of monsters forming. She stood up. There was no time to wait.

"Yumi, what are you doing? I said we wait!"

Yumi shrugged off Ulrich's voice as she closed her eyes and lifted herself toward the key.

…

Ulrich let out an angry shout as he dove from behind the blocks and motioned for Odd to cover him. What did she think she was doing? "Sissi, watch Aelita!" Ulrich ran for the closest creeper and severed its body from its tail. He glanced up and Yumi and shook his head. "Yumi, get down here! We don't have…" His speech was cut off as a laser hit him in the chest.

Odd tensed and fired an arrow at the creeper that had hit Ulrich. When it exploded into scrap, he relaxed. Too soon. He heard the lasers charging, but he'd already sacrificed his cover to get a clear shot. Sissi ducked under the stones around them as the lasers hit Odd's back and he blinked out of existence.

"What's going on in there?"

Sissi grunted and tossed a shuriken at the closest creeper, slithering toward them. "Do me a favor, Jeremie, don't ask."

Ulrich shook the tingling of the laser out of his head and blocked the creepers' next few shots. One of them was shooting at Yumi, however, and Ulrich was too far away to do anything. He winced as the first two shots hit her. "Yumi, don't be stupid! You're going to get us all scrapped!"

Yumi gritted her teeth against the pain and Ulrich's voice and continued to rise. "Almost…there…"

Ulrich charged toward the farthest creeper and slashed it open, but too late. It had already fired at Yumi.

When her eyes opened in shock, the geisha saw her finger dissolving an inch from the glowing key.

Ulrich groaned as another laser hit him. "Jeremie, how many life points do I have left?"

"Twenty! And you've only got fifteen seconds left to hit the key! I'm materializing your vehicles as we speak."

Sissi raised her bracers to block the creeper's shots at Aelita, then flung a shuriken into its eye-patch. She rolled back as the Overwheel materialized beside her. She swung herself onto the forward-pitched seat and as she did the wheels at its back began to spin. "Ulrich, I'm going to make a run for the key!" He nodded, stepping back toward Aelita, and Sissi flipped the Overwheel's handlebar from vertical to horizontal. As the wheels slid down into hover mode, Sissi lifted the vehicle off the ground in a mad dash for the key.

"Sissi, look out!"

She was so close. But then a creeper she hadn't seen emerge from the white terraces lining the room had fired. Sissi shouted in fury as the Overwheel dissolved beneath her and she began to freefall back toward the floor. "Sissi…" Sissi didn't know what Ulrich would have said, because the last creeper on the floor with them whipped its head around and the samurai faded in a hail of energy fire.

Sissi rolled to her feet, head swimming. "Sissi, time's up! Get Aelita out of there!" Sissi glanced up—the ceiling had begun to quiver. When the first block fell, she grabbed Aelita's arm and pushed her toward the door.

Aelita was ahead of her, but not by much, and Sissi could hear the walls shutting behind her. She could see the antechamber in front of them, but it was too late. With a final burst of speed, Sissi shoved Aelita forward through the gap and squeezed her eyes shut as the walls slammed into her.

Ulrich was rubbing his temples to numb the pain when Sissi's scanner flashed open, followed soon by Aelita's. Sissi was shaken, and Aelita was out of breath. He gestured toward the elevator. "Come on, let's go." The three lurched into the lift and Ulrich brought them up to the lab. When they entered, Yumi, Odd, and Jeremie turned to face them. Ulrich made a beeline for Yumi. "Are you all right?" Yumi nodded. "Good. Now why don't you tell me what you thought you were doing in there?"

Yumi's face wrinkled in indignance. "What are you talking about?"

"I told you to wait. If we hadn't had to cover you, we would have survived until Jeremie brought our vehicles in."

"Excuse me? For all we knew, the countdown might have run down before he got the memory free. I made a decision to do what I thought was best for the team!"

"You don't get to decide what's best for the team!"

"Oh, and you do?"

"Hey, you two, don't worry, there was no harm done…"

Yumi and Ulrich both growled. "Shut up!" Aelita sank back. Odd glared at the two.

"Well, someone has to be in charge in there!"

"Oh, and what, because I'm a girl, I'm not qualified?"

"Oh, don't even try to…this whole matron mother routine is getting really old. You don't automatically get to be in charge just because you're the oldest!"

"And you don't get to be in charge just because you're the biggest—"

"Hey!" All eyes snapped to Odd, face red. "What's wrong with you two? Is this supposed to help us somehow?"

Yumi glared back at Ulrich and shook her head. "Forget it. I'm out of here." Aelita couldn't tell, but it looked like she was about to cry.

A dead silence settled over the computer room as the lift door slid closed and Yumi headed back toward the surface. Odd opened his mouth and Ulrich clenched his fists. "One word, Odd, and you'll wake up in Paraguay."

…

Sissi reached halfway out across the aisle, making sure Mrs. Hertz' back was turned, and plucked the folded note form Aelita's fingers. She smoothed out the sheet of paper and glanced down at Aelita's graceful handwriting.

_What's wrong?_

Sissi scribbled her reply, refolded the note, and silently slipped it back to Aelita. Aelita unfolded the paper and frowned.

_Nothing. I'm fine._

Aelita sighed. Nothing had gone well yesterday. After they got back from Lyoko, Ulrich and Yumi refused to speak to each other and even Sissi was uncharacteristically quiet. Aelita shook her head as the bell rang, shouldered her backpack, and turned to Jeremie. "Jeremie, is it just me, or were things a lot simpler before I moved here?"

Jeremie glanced back across the room, where Sissi and Ulrich were slowly collecting their things. "No, not really. It probably just seemed like that from the outside."

Odd fell into line with them. "Hey. You two want to grab some lunch?"

"Aren't you going to eat with Sissi?"

"She said she wasn't hungry. She's going to take a walk around the park and meet up with us later."

Jeremie shook his head. "Ulrich and Yumi I can figure out, but what's with her? She hasn't been the same since yesterday."

Aelita sighed as she watched the black-haired girl slip off from the mass of students and head toward the treeline. "She had a fight with Brandy yesterday."

"That's not exactly out of the ordinary."

"She seemed to take it pretty hard, though."

Jeremie shook his head. "How come we can never just have one problem at a time?"

Yumi picked at the rice and broccoli in her bowl. Her mother tried to catch her eye. "So, why aren't you eating lunch with your school friends today?" Yumi shrugged. "Anything you want to talk about?"

Yumi stared down into her bowl. "You wouldn't understand."

"Honey, I realize you think I was born before the dinosaurs went extinct, but I do remember what it's like to be a teenager."

Yumi set down her chopsticks and rolled her head up to face her mother. "All right, if you must know, Ulrich and I are having some problems because of the virtual universe where my friends and I battle an evil computer virus."

Mrs. Ishiyama sighed, smiled, and patted her daughter's head. "If you decide you want to talk about what's really going on, I'm here for you."

Odd shook his head as he sat down at the lunch table. "Yumi and Ulrich and squabbling over command decisions, and Sissi's running off to play with the wolves. Those three have got some seriously warped ideas about teamwork."

Jeremie looked up from his tray and grinned. "I never thought I'd say this, Odd. But you're right."

Odd shrugged. "Hey, no hard feelings. It was bound to happen eventually."

Aelita peered into Jeremie's eyes and smiled. They were suffused with the glow that always accompanied his particularly brilliant ideas. "Jeremie, what do you have in mind?"

He grinned. "I'll let you know once it's ready. Meet me at the factory when I send word."

Odd blinked as the blond jumped out of his seat and out the door toward the boiler room. It was a good thing they didn't have any afternoon classes today. That look in Jeremie's eyes usually meant they'd have to cancel all their plans…

…

Yumi dusted her lips with the napkin and slipped the humming cell phone out of her back pocket. She glanced at the text message and swore to herself.

SOS. XANA. J.

Her mother leaned across the table. "Problem?"

Yumi paused, looking up at the kitchen. She sighed. "Yeah. I have to go back to school."

Her mother nodded. "All right, honey. Remember, if you want to talk, I'm here."

"Yeah. Thanks, mom."

Ulrich grabbed Sissi's arm and pulled her up through the manhole. She nodded solemnly and jogged toward the factory. Behind him, Ulrich saw a black flash—Yumi had just reached the bridge. He hesitated, just a moment, then followed Sissi. He didn't want to have to talk to Yumi right now. He was too afraid of saying something stupid.

Yumi landed on the factory floor a few seconds behind Ulrich, and skidded to a stop. Jeremie and Aelita were standing calmly in front of the lift. Ulrich squinted. "Jeremie, what's going on?"

In response, the blond nodded toward the open door. The newcomers spun their heads around at the grating sound as Odd pushed the massive slab of iron closed and at the sharp clicks of padlocks snapping into place.

Yumi shook her head as Odd stepped away from the door and swung down onto the floor. "What are you doing?"

Odd took the place to Jeremie's left. "Desperate measures."

Jeremie cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Since we have the time, I thought this might be a good opportunity for a little training exercise. You three have started to forget that we're supposed to be a team, and we can't afford that right now. Xana's more powerful than ever, and we need to be at our best, not bickering and sulking and feeling sorry for ourselves."

Ulrich scoffed. "Oh, this is ridiculous. I'm out of here."

"If you think you can break one of those windows and swim back to shore without getting pulled downstream, feel free. Otherwise, you better start listening." Ulrich grunted, but stopped talking. "There are four padlocks on that front door. Each key is hidden somewhere inside the factory. If you want to get out, you have to find them. Each team gets a clue that will lead them to a different part of the factory, which will contain another clue, and so on, until a key is found."

Sissi rolled her eyes. "A scavenger hunt? You've got to be kidding."

"Team one will be Aelita and Sissi. Team two will be Ulrich and Yumi." He could hear them both start to protest. "And before you say anything, know that some locations will be almost impossible for a single person to reach. You're stuck with each other. Odd and I are going to hold down the fort."

"Jeremie, you've totally flipped." Ulrich shook his head.

"This is insane. Do you know what my mother's going to do to me if I'm not home before dark?"

Jeremie shrugged Yumi off and tossed her a tiny plastic easter egg, then another to Sissi. "Then you have a pretty good incentive not to waste your time. Here are your first clues."

Grumbling, the three started off toward the stairwells that led down into the bowels of the factory, Ulrich and Yumi standing as far apart as possible. Aelita smiled and gave Jeremie's hand a reassuring squeeze before trailing off after Sissi.

Odd shook his head as he watched the four searchers head off into the factory. "You came up with this whole thing in an hour?" Jeremie shrugged. "Man, we're going to have to find a new nickname for you, 'cause you make Einstein look like…well, like me."

Jeremie smiled. "At least this will get them talking."

"Or they'll kill each other."

"Well…yeah."

Xana's eye opened. Jeremie had a fortunate habit of muttering to himself when he was working in the lab, and Xana couldn't have approved of the plan more. Tendrils of energy spiked a Tower in the Forest, and the first ghost emerged into the depths of the factory basement. Now, all he needed was something he could change right now, so he wouldn't have to hold the link open. Ah. The ghost drifted toward the emergency water pump and hummed excitedly. Perfect.

…

Aelita snaked her fingers up between the pipes and cupped the yellow plastic easter egg in her palm. Sissi grunted, the shorter girl's shoes starting to dig into her hands. "Do you have it?"

"Almost." Aelita eased the egg from between the pipes. "All right, now."

Sissi grunted, dropping her hands and letting Aelita hop to the ground. "What's it say?"

Aelita unfolded the scrap of paper from inside the egg and squinted at Jeremie's handwriting. "Watch the sunrise, try to catch it." Aelita raised her eyebrows. "That's obscure even for Jeremie."

Sissi sighed. "All right, 'watch the sunrise'—that means…windows on the east side of the building."

Aelita nodded. "Yeah, but what about trying to catch it?" Sissi shrugged. "Well, I guess we might as well head toward the panoramic windows on the east side."

Sissi stretched her shoulders as they headed out of the hallway. "You know, this is almost fun."

Aelita smiled. "Yeah. It's nice to spend some time together."

Sissi smiled fleetingly. "Yeah." She brushed past Aelita, ducking toward the doors that led to the outside wall.

Aelita sighed, and widened her steps to catch up to the other girl. "Sissi, what's wrong? You've been so distant since yesterday."

Sissi spun around. "It's nothing, you hear? I'm fine."

Aelita sighed as Sissi tromped ahead of her. They'd already started on their second key, and she was getting nowhere.

Ulrich grunted as his foot slipped off of the boiler pipe. Yumi, hand inches away from the egg, teetered backwards. "Hey, watch it!"

Ulrich winced and groped his foot around the pipes until he settled it into another crevice. "Well hurry up, I'm losing my footing!" Ulrich only knew a few words of Japanese, so he wasn't entirely certain what she muttered at him, but he was almost positive it wasn't polite. "Look, Yumi, I…" She glanced down, eyebrows raised expectantly. "Forget it. Just get the egg."

Yumi lunged forward to grab the egg, then buckled back onto Ulrich's shoulders. The boy collapsed under her, falling between the pipes. He winced, then looked up at Yumi laid across him. She lifted the egg triumphantly between two fingers. He smiled. She smiled. Then she blushed and pushed up from Ulrich's lap. "Ulrich…" Yumi shook her head and opened the egg. Her eyes scanned back and forth across the paper, then crumpled it. "Basement."

Ulrich shook his head. She didn't even let him read them anymore. He practically had to run to keep up with her as she headed toward the stairs. "Look, Yumi, I'm tired of this. I didn't mean to…" It occured to him then that he didn't actually know what to say.

Yumi was looking at the floor. "I know. That doesn't make it better." She paused just a momet, then started back toward the stairs. "Let's just get to the basement."

Ulrich sped up his steps—Yumi had stopped at the open door and was glaring down the stairwell. Ulrich stopped just short of the stairs and his breath caught in his throat. "Xana?"

Yumi bit her lip. "Yeah."

The water level was so high that only the top five steps were still visible, and they could see it rising. Ulrich sighed and flipped out his cell phone. Training exercise. Great.

Jeremie set the ace of clubs on top of a pile and smiled triumphantly. Odd wagged his finger, slapped down the eight of spades, and pulled the hefty pile of cards to his side. Jeremie's nose wrinkled. "Didn't I win that one?"

Odd shook his head. "No. Double black, dealer always wins."

"Wait a minute…you just made that up right now."

Odd shrugged. "It's my game. I can make up whatever rules I want."

Jeremie shook his head, then startled. He dug the pulsating cell phone out of his pocket and pressed the talk button. "Ulrich?"

"Uh, Jeremie…we've got a little problem."

…

Sissi tossed their two keys to Jeremie as she and Aelita descended to the factory floor. He nodded. "Okay, that's three." He shot Ulrich a worried glance. Sissi squinted.

"What, what's wrong?"

Jeremie sighed. "The backed-up water's already flooded the basement. The fourth key's down there."

Ulrich shook his head. "Yeah, but that's not the bad news."

Aelita crossed her legs and sat down between Odd and Yumi. "What's the bad news?"

Jeremie cleared his throat. "The windows on this place…are more or less shatterproof. We can crack open the top ones, but…in a couple of hours, the water's going to be up over the catwalk. That leaves about two feet of air between the water and the ceiling, and that's only as long as we can tread water."

Yumi shrugged. "So we go down to the lab. Set a return to the past."

Odd shook his head. "I already went down there. I barely had time to get the doors closed before the elevator started flooding." He winced as he looked down at his damp legs. "These were my favorite pants, too."

Aelita glanced around at the others' faces. Only Jeremie and Sissi were letting themselves look scared—Ulrich and Yumi were trying to be tough, and Odd had the confident detachment of someone who was convinced he was about to wake up. "So, what do we do?"

Ulrich shrugged. "We have to get that key." He turned to Jeremie. "There are oxygen masks in the storage rooms here, right? I mean, there must be."

Jeremie shook his head. "Just emergency chemical masks. And they wouldn't have more than ten minutes of air. The key's on the lowest basement level—even for a strong swimmer, it would take at least…eight to get down there. That means whoever went down would run out of air six minutes from the surface."

Yumi bit her lip, then stood up. "Then you'll have to send someone in after me."

Odd lurched up. "Whoa, Yumi, let's talk about this. There's got to be another way."

"I'm the best swimmer here." The rest shot each other uneasy glances. "Every second we wait, the water's just going to get higher."

Jeremie sighed. "I'll go dig up some masks." Yumi started for the stairs into the bowels of the factory, Odd, Sissi and Aelita staring after her in disbelief. Ulrich cursed and took off after her.

"Yumi, wait."

"Ulrich, this is the only plan that has any chance of working."

"Yeah, I know that. But it's also really dangerous." He grabbed her arm. "I don't want you to risk your life for this."

Yumi rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Oh, no way. I know where this is going. There's no way you're going down there instead of me."

She turned to catch the awkward oxygen mask Jeremie threw her. "The key's in a yellow toolbox in the west-facing supply storage room." She nodded, and tried to pull out of Ulrich's grip, but he held firm.

"Ulrich, I can do this. You just have to trust me!"

"I trust you, it's not that."

"Then what? You still have to be in charge?"

"Don't try to make this about business, Yumi. I can't—"

"Can't what? Can't admit that anyone else is stronger that you?"

"**I don't want to lose you!**" Ulrich loosened his grip and his eyes flitted away from Yumi's. "I can't stand the thought of something happening to you." He was already stepping away toward the rising waterline that lapped at the stairs. She hadn't even noticed him take the mask.

"Ulrich, no, don't…" He dove. Yumi squeezed her eyes closed. Odd pressed his hand into her shoulder.

"Ten minutes, Yumi."

"I want to be the one who goes after him."

"I know." He pressed the second oxygen mask into her hand. "In the meantime, we have to keep the water below this floor. The more we can keep it dry up here, the shorter his return trip will be."

Yumi nodded and, slowly, tore her gaze away from the ripples on the surface left in his wake.

…

Aelita growled, pusing back against the door. They'd managed to buy some time when Odd widened a tiny crack in one of the windows that bordered the room on its north face, but that meant the rooms around them were filling up faster. The doors had already begun to buckle under the difference in pressure, and the one Jeremie and Odd were holding was leaking at the hinges. Judging from the height at which the water was spraying, the surrounding compartments were already flooded at least chest-deep.

Sissi shouted in surprise as a hard stream of water erupted from beside the door handle, then she pushed harder against her side of the door. "Yumi, how much time?"

"It's been nine minutes."

Jeremie winced as he ducked away from the spray. "He should be on his way back up by now."

Yumi glanced at her watch, then at the cold liquid that had spilled all the way up the stairway. "I'm going after him."

Odd threw his weight against the door, trying to find a better hold position. "No way, he's still got a minute of air left! You don't want us to have to send someone else in after you, do you?"

Yumi lifted off her sweater to reveal a red undershirt and picked the oxygen mask up from its place on a discarded filing cabinet. "I don't want to lose him either!" She ran toward the stairwell, then she was gone, shallow ripples in her wake.

Aelita leaned harder against the door and, as she did, edged closed to Sissi. "Did I do something wrong?"

Sissi's sopping face wrinkled in confusion. "What?" she shouted over the rush of water.

"Did I do something? Is that why you've been so distant lately?"

Sissi shook her head in disbelief, droplets of water flying from her loose hair. "You want to talk about this **now**?"

Aelita shrugged. "Well, we're probably going to die in about ten minutes. It seemed like as good a time as any!"

Yumi turned the corner sharply, rolling her body around the wall in one fluid motion. She was trying to keep track in her head—she'd been under for…five minutes? Was that right? She squinted ahead, down the hallway and saw exactly what she was afraid of. Ulrich was floating, motionless, inches above the bottom.

Sissi sighed. "It's not you."

"Then what is it? Is it what Brandy said?" Sissi turned away, under the pretense of trying to get a better position against the door. "That's it? What did she say that was so bad?"

Yumi was swimming as fast as she could with only one arm. She had tried to feel for Ulrich's pulse, but it hadn't been easy underwater, and she didn't have the time. He was alive. She knew it.

"It wasn't anything in particular, she just…" Sissi glanced back into Aelita's eyes and sighed. "She reminds me of what I left behind. I mean, you guys have all been great, but…" Her position against the door slackened slightly.

His eyes flicked open. Just slightly, but it was enough. As she rolled back up the next flight of stairs, Yumi peeled the mask away from her face, released a burst of oxygen to clear the airway of water, and pressed it to Ulrich's face as she swam. _He was breathing_.

"I guess I still don't feel like I belong."

Aelita's look of concern tore away to the stairwell as Yumi surfaced, gasping, Ulrich squeezed in one arm. Odd and Sissi left their posts to help her, but a choking Yumi waved them to Ulrich. "Is he breathing? Is he still breathing?"

Odd pressed his hand into her shoulder. "Yeah, Yumi. He's going to be fine."

Sissi was kneeling over Ulrich, propping up the unconscious boy's head. "The key! Where's the key?"

"Check his pockets!" Jeremie shouted.

Sissi slipped her hands inside Ulrich's pockets, then shouted in excitement as her hand touched metal. She pulled the slender key from his closed leg pocket and grinned. Yumi smiled. "That's my boy."

"The city's working on repairing the emergency pump." Jeremie shrugged. "The factory should be back to normal in a few days. Just…a little rustier."

Odd chuckled. "I didn't think that was even possible."

"All right, what's this about?" Sissi was grinning under the blindfold as Aelita led her through the door. When she whipped it off, the room burst to life.

"Surprise!"

Sissi laughed, shaking her head in amusement. "What's all this for?"

Jeremie stepped forward and cleared his throat, raising the single sheet of paper. "Elisabeth Delmas, in the name of the Benevolent Order of Lyoko and the Knights of the IO Tower, I hereby declare you an official member of the Factory."

Sissi shook her head and smiled. "This is…great. And…kind of disturbing."

Odd shrugged. "Hey, at least we didn't make a plaque."

Aelita smiled and wrapped her arm around Aelita's shoulder. "See, no worries. You're a genuine child of Lyoko now."

As the party went on, Ulrich grabbed Yumi by the arm and led her into the doorway. "Yumi, I…thanks. For, you know…saving my life."

Yumi smiled. "Any time."

"Listen, I…I'm sorry about what I said. I just…"

"I know."

Ulrich smiled and nodded. "Next time, just…let's talk about it before you go flying off."

Yumi pulled back. "Wait…I stand by my decision on Lyoko."

"Yumi, let's not…"

"No, Ulrich, what are you trying to say? Is this still about being in charge?"

Ulrich paused, looking up. "Look, I said I'm sorry if I insulted you, but…someone still has to make the command decisions on Lyoko, and I'm not going to apologize for thinking it should be me."

"Oh, I can't believe…" She pulled away, out of the room and into the hallway. "You know what, forget it."

Ulrich opened his mouth to protest, but she was already half-way down the hallway.

As she was sobbing, Yumi heard footsteps behind her and straightened. "Are you okay?" William leaned down over the park bench, and she turned away.

"It's nothing. What do you want?"

He shrugged. "I just heard you, and I thought it was a little unusual. I mean, shouldn't you be crying on Ulrich's shoulder?"

Yumi laughed bitterly. "No. You were right about him. He's just a stupid kid."

Taking a place beside her on the bench, William wrapped his arm around Yumi, stared off into the night sky, and let her cry.


End file.
